


Close to the Flame

by Freak_of_Madness



Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: F/M, Family, Friendship, Illegal Activities, Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:12:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5729089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freak_of_Madness/pseuds/Freak_of_Madness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clay Morrow is shot out in the woods 100 miles from Charming while out on business. A young girl saves him until he's rescued by the club. Every few months for the next 10 years Clay disappears for a few days. Gemma finally tires of his disappearances and follows him where she finds him meeting with a young woman. Upon introducing his wife, they decide to try and convince her to move to Charming. Chaos ensues but will she find the family she's been missing for more than 10 years? Sucky summary :(</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Into the woods

It was the spring of 2006, March to be exact. Just over 100 miles south of Charming, California. Unbeknownst to a young girl and a middle aged man, quite a few lives were going to change. Clay Morrow had come all the way from his hometown to conduct "business" with a local gun seller. They had agreed to meet at a specified location but when Clay arrived, he found his contact had 2 associates with him. In his gut, and through experience, Clay knew things were going south fast. 

 

He was taken out to the woods a few miles from the meeting place. Words were exchanged, threats made. A shoot-out ensued with Clay being fairly victorious when all was said and done. He'd shot both his contact's men dead but he himself had been shot in the shoulder. It was a bad wound and his contact assumed Clay would either die of his wound or would starve to death. He left the middle aged biker there in the woods. 

 

Clay was trying to call for help from his motorcycle club but he had no signal this far out in the woods. Suddenly he began to wonder if he was indeed going to die out here. There was still a chill in the air and he started to shiver slightly from the soft breeze that had begun blowing. Clay began to drift in and out of consciousness from the loss of blood. A little girl just shy of her 10th birthday had witnessed the whole thing and waited for the hurt man to slip back into unconsciousness. It took the small child quite a while to drag him to the little shack she was using as a temporary home.

 

When she finally got him home, it took her a little bit to drag him into her meager bed. It wasn't much, just an old, lumpy, raggedy mattress she had found and some blankets she had stolen from a local thrift store. Once he was settled in her bed, she went to fetch some water from a nearby creek. He would need medical care although she wasn't entirely sure what all she could do for him. She could clean his wound, as she had learned to do that for herself, but didn't have much deeper medical knowledge than that.

 

Since he would most likely be out for a while, she opted to head into town and get some items she thought she would need. Hydrogen Peroxide to clean the wound, gauze and neosporin to try and help keep the wound from getting dirt in it and getting infected. Even though she was quite young, she was a very talented grifter. It was a skill her parents had been teaching her from the time she was about four years old. Her father called it "The School of the Seven Bells". 

 

Her parents were nomads, drifters. She had been taught a lot before her parents were cruelly taken from her two years prior. Ever since their deaths, she had been stealing the things she required and moved around when she needed. Sometimes she would lift someone's wallet and take the money so she didn't have to "grift" the items she required. So far she had never been caught! She walked into the drug store and picked up the items she needed. Some neosporin ointment, gauze, tape, latex gloves, the highest milligram pain & fever reducer she could find, and hydrogen peroxide. She had grifted a fat balding man's wallet and happily took a $100 bill from him. 

 

When she finally returned to her little shack, she found the unknown man was awake and looking around. She just stared at the older man as she set her bag down. She remained quiet as he watched her set her items down. Clay watched with interest as this young girl began to prepare to clean his wound. He took his cut off and cut his shirt so she could clean the wound. She went outside to wash her hands then put on a pair of the too-large latex gloves. As she worked cleaning his painful wound, he couldn't help but wonder who she was and where her family was? How had he gotten to this tiny little shack?

 

"What's your name?" Clay finally asked as she was spreading the neosporin ointment on the wound

 

She looked at him in surprise before answering, "Jaelle."

 

"Jaelle, it's nice to meet you. I'm Clay." He told her

 

She didn't respond, just put some gauze on the bullet hole in his shoulder and taped it there. He winced in pain but there was nothing she could do about that. She handed him the bottle of pain & fever reducer and a cup of water for him to take. He thanked her before closing his eyes and falling into a fitful sleep. She headed back into town figuring he would need soup to help regain his strength and heal. She bought as many cans of soup as she could carry on her own before heading back to her shack. 

 

Over the next several days, Clay began to stay awake more and more. He knew his club would be looking for him especially since he hadn't returned the same day he left like he told them he would. She took care of him the best she could but she knew eventually someone would come looking for him. She really hoped it wasn't the guy who had shot him! The ring he wore on his ring finger told her he was married. However, she was unfamiliar with the vest he had been wearing. 

 

Jaelle cleaned and re-bandaged his wound several times a day. It was getting red all around the wound so she knew he would need medical care quickly. Clay was grateful for the soup she seemed to get for them as well as the water. He wondered where her parents were since she was the only one he had seen out here in the woods. She slept on the dirt 'floor' while he crashed in her meager, uncomfortable bed.

 

About a week after he had left Charming, he asked her if she would send a text for him. She did as she was asked including the message he wanted her to send. They needed some supplies so she was happy to do this errand for him. Obviously the girl didn't have a job, so Clay wondered where she was able to get the medical supplies and food. His wallet was still in his pocket and nothing had been taken out of it. He began thinking of the past week or so. They were in a pretty remote location here in the woods. Could this girl have seen what happened to him?!

 

While in town, she picked up the few supplies they needed. Clay made sure she understood this was a very important message he needed her to send out. She found the name he told her to message.

 

_'Come get me. In Briarcane Woods. Need to search.'_

 

After hitting the send button, she made sure the message went through before taking her bags and headed back 'home'. Clay was asleep when Jaelle returned. They were running low on water so she took her water bucket and headed down to the creek to fetch more water. She boiled it, as her parents taught her too, in order to get all the impurities out of it and make it safe to drink.


	2. Rescued!

A few hours later, they heard people calling out for him. Clay watched as the girl trembled slightly in fear. Before he answered them, he promised they were friends of his and that no one would harm her. She just looked at him in silence. Since her parents died, no one had ever been to her little shack. Except Clay. She shook her head no and then bolted out of her little shack. She didn't care about abandoning her home. She climbed partially up a tree where she wouldn't be seen but where she could still see the shack and the people coming for Clay.

 

 

"Clay!" They heard several loud voices call out

 

 

**"HERE!"** Clay yelled back, wincing in pain as he did

 

 

More yelling could be heard as his "friends" tried to find him. Clay had shot two men in the woods and tried to shoot the third. What would keep him from killing her too? What would keep his friends from killing her? She jumped, even though she was in a tree and not in the shack, as the door to her home was kicked in. 

 

 

**"FOUND HIM!"** This tall, young blond man shouted, coming to kneel by the meager bed, "What happened? Are you alright?"

 

 

"Deal went bad. Killed 2 of them. Was shot in the shoulder in the process." Clay retorted, sitting up

 

 

"I'll tell Chibs to get a hold of the Irish." Jax stated as he helped Clay to a standing position, "How did you wind up here?"

 

 

"I went unconscious after I was shot. When I woke up, I was here. This girl's been taking care of me and nursing me back to health." Clay stated with a frown

 

 

“What girl?” Jax asked as he looked around the small room

 

 

She could see five other men walking around the woods near her shack. What could they be searching for? A medium sized man stepped in front of Clay and the blond man holding him up and began checking over Clay. Chibs was surprised at how well his Prez had been taken care of. He helped the wounded man to the awaiting party of leather-clad men. Filthy Phil took Jax's place to help the Scotsman get the Prez to the awaiting van.

 

 

"Apparently some girl helped Clay to this little shack. She's had Clay in there for about a week trying to take care of him!” Jax explained to Bobby, Juice, and Tig

 

 

“How the hell could two people even fit in that little shack?” Bobby asked, looking around the VP to see into the 'building'

 

 

“This shack is barely big enough for some girl let alone her and a grown man. There's no heat, no water, that bed didn't look new or even comfortable! Not to mention the fact that there's no bathroom. Who knows how long she's been living here!" Jax exclaimed as they slowly walked around the campsite

 

 

"Well there's a pot hung up on that side of the shack and a spot that looks like where she lights a campfire." Juice stated

 

 

"Where are her parents?" Bobby asked as he tried to look into the tiny shack

 

 

"We need teh get 'im back teh deh clubhouse. Deh bullet is still lodged in 'is shoulder an' he needs some anti-biotics." Chibs stated as he walked up to the rest of his brothers

 

 

Clay looked around wildly, scanning the woods for the young girl who'd been his savior the past week. She sat perched in her hiding spot watching him looking around. Was he looking for her? They all cautiously made their way back to their awaiting black van. She had stayed silent as she followed the group. Once everyone had climbed inside, they took off leaving her behind. She couldn't help but wonder if she was ever going to see the man she'd kept from death, so she hoped, again. 

 

 

*****************************************************************************

 

 

It had been three months since Clay had been rescued from the woods. Jaelle was sure she was never going to see him again so she decided to find another camp to live in for a while. Clay kept having nightmares about that girl and of letting her run away instead of bringing her back to the clubhouse. He wondered if she was ok, if James had gone back and discovered her, even if she wondered about him. Clay's worry was more of a parental way. Besides, she had taken care of him, he should have returned the favor.

 

 

Six months had passed and he decided to ride out and see if he could find her again. It took him several hours but he finally discovered the camp she had called home. It pained him to see that she hadn't lived there in quite a while. Had she moved somewhere else? Had she been put in a Juvenile Detention Center? Had James found and killed her? Every few months he came out searching for her. He didn't know about her other than her name was Jaelle. Finally, after close to a year later, he ran into her fifty miles south of where they had met.

 

 

“Jaelle! Do you remember me?” Clay asked softly

 

 

“You're the man who was shot in the woods.” She replied

 

 

“Yes. Can we go somewhere to talk? Maybe get a bite to eat?” Clay inquired

 

 

She shrugged her shoulders at him making the much older man smile. He wanted a quiet place to talk so they began walking around the town she was staying on the outskirts of. They came across a small little cafe so they headed inside. Once they had been seated and given their drink orders, Clay got down to business.


End file.
